Christina Aguilera’s Kaleidoscopic Life

How do you describe someone like Christina Aguilera? Her life is an evolving kaleidoscope. She is very much a work in progress. The disease to please, perpetual reinvention, and a chameleon-like personality are common coping mechanisms for female survivors of child abuse.

Ms. Aguilera’s father Fausto was an abusive Army sergeant who moved his family from Texas to Japan to New Jersey. When she was four years old,her father beat her for making noise while he was napping. Ms. Aguilera recalled:

We lived on Army bases when I was little, and it [domestic violence] was happening a lot. The MPs [military police] would come, but a lot of them were doing the same things [to their wives and kids]. I was surrounded with domestic violence, not only in my home but my friends.

When she was seven years old, Ms. Aguilera’s mother, Shelly Kearns, left her husband and took her daughters Christina and Rachel to live with her mother, Delcie Fidler, in Rochester, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh). Ms. Fidler was the first to recognize her grand-daughter’s talent and passion for music.

Christina Aguilera was one of the biggest stars to emerge from the late-Nineties teen-pop explosion. Aguilera initially stood out from her fellow teen poppers thanks to her operatic, rafter-rattling voice and its huge range; later she would delve into pre-rock sounds and make attempts at adult-pop classiness in a way her contemporaries didn’t.

I was trying to please. . .finally I had to say, “Enough. I’m going to make a record that makes me happy and addresses all facets of being a woman. I don’t care if I sell one or one million records.”

Stripped jettisoned her good-girl, preppy image for hot-and-horny. Although Stripped got off to a rocky start, it ultimately sold 13 million copies and went quadruple-platinum. One of its most enduring songs is the haunting, autobiographical “I’m Okay:”

I have no idea which Christina I’ll encounter. . .I get something of a hybrid: a performer who is exhilarated by her work, a passionate advocate for victims of domestic abuse, and a woman who admits that, due to the domestic violence she endured growing up, she still feels safest onstage.

I was brought up in a household of chaos and I never felt stable at home. . .I decided I was never going to feel helpless. . .never going to feel weak around a man. . .never going to rely on anyone. Independence was a big, big thing for me. I saw my voice as a way out ~ when my parents fought, I’d run up to my room, put on The Sound of Music, open the window and sing out. My voice was my escape.

I know that might make some women feel uncomfortable, but we need to stick together instead of getting angry at each other for our choices. I think women are sensual, beautiful beings, and I feel empowered when I express myself sexually.

Some of these women leave their homes without anything. They just grab the kids and get out. . .have to start from scratch. . .it’s also important to help build their self-esteem. . .it’s really broken after they’ve been beaten down for so long.

Some people like the drama of creating [stories] around you to make themselves look better. . .

I’ve found my true friends and people who are really there for me and have stuck by me and have just supported me. When you’re going through a hard time, you don’t need people judging you and ridiculing you. The people that are around you are going to be the ones to support you and love you through whatever difficult time you’re going through.

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